Quantum Engineering of Dynamical Gauge Fields on Optical Lattices
Abstract
In this project, we have developed a scheme for using cold atom systems on optical lattices as quantum simulators for lattice gauge theories. We designed cold atom experimental setups that could be used to learn about the phase diagrams of Lattice Gauge Theory models and real time evolution, which cannot be studied using conventional methods. We first constructed a sequence of theoretical steps connecting the classical O(2) model in 1+1 dimensions to a boson model that can be implemented on optical lattices, showing a proof-of-principle that quantum computing via optical lattices is possible for classical lattice models. We then extended this protocol to limits of the Abelian Higgs model, a model that exhibits important features of QCD such as confinement. Our results include construction of effective actions, testing with Monte Carlo simulations, tensor renormalization group technique development and application, mappings to quantum spin and boson Hamiltonians, and analysis of candidate systems for experimental realization. We verified that in the superfluid phase the central charge can be extracted from the entanglement entropy as predicted by conformal symmetry. We calculated and compared the Polyakov loop, an order parameter for confinement, in the two formulations, and propose that it can be a useful quantity to probe experimentally. The results from our project opens the door for exciting new research directions, such as quantum simulation of the Schwinger model and of non-Abelian models.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 08, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1017250
Entities
People
- Shan-wen Tsai
- Yannick Meurice
Organizations
- University of California, Riverside